Wax shaping tool

ABSTRACT

A tool or instrument for shaping wax in desired patterns which carries a tip that is made from a thermo-conductive material conforming in a diminishing mass fashion and ending into a point. The tip includes a wax storage area connected to the point by a slot or passageway. Transport of fluid wax between point and storage area, and vice versa, is obtained by gravity and capillary action respectively in conjunction with the effect of heat involved by the diminishing mass.

Ulliifid States Patent 1 I Garrison 1 Jan. 16,1973

' 54] WAX SHAPING TOOL [75] lnventori William E. Garrison, Seattle,

Wash.

[73] Assignee: The Magic Circle Corp, Seattle, o ,8 to Wa h-W.

[22] Filed: Feb. 1, 1971 211 Appl. No.: 111,414

[52] US. Cl ..401/2, 222/146 [51] Int. Cl. ..B43k 8/00, A46k 1 1/08 [58] Field of Search ..40l/l3; 222/146 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 410,330 9/1889 Porterfield et a1 ..40l/1 1,769,437 7/1930 Kromer ..40l/1 2,235,519 3/1941 Hausknecht... .....401/2 2,272,780 2/ 1942 Schweyer ..40l/2 Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles AttorneyNicolaas Devogel [57] ABSTRACT A tool or instrument for shaping wax in desired patterns which carries a tip that is made from a thermoconductive material conforming in a diminishing mass fashion and ending into a point. The tip includes a wax storage area connected to the point by a slot or passageway. Transport of fluid wax between point and storage area, and vice versa, is obtained by gravity and capillary action respectively in conjunction with the effect of heat involved by the diminishing mass.

1 Claim, 12 Drawing Figures WAX SHAPING TOOL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of Invention The present invention relates to wax shaping tools and, more particularly, to tools used to design jewelry wax dies or models. In addition, the same tools will find a useful existence in other fields for wax pattern forming such as dentistry, art objects, etc.

2. Prior Art There appears to be no pertinent art available or known. The closest reference found in construction and performance are conventional ruling pens used by artist in India ink drawings. Less pertinent art was found in the U. S. Pat. No. 3,172,382, by W. Weglin, which relates to a desoldering tool; however, the use and patent classification are different and a combination of the two references is very unlikely, still different and unobvious to a to a person skilled in the art of wax die working.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises basically a tipshaped object of heat conducting material. The

diminishing mass of the object provides for an even, constant temperature throughout the mass when the tip is heated at its insert or input end. This constant temperature phenomenon has been theorized by thermodynamists in laboratory experiments, which show that the amount of heat flowing through a rod of a predetermined length and constant diameter will produce a lower temperature at the output end than a rod having the same length but a diminishing diameter and made of the same material. In other words, the t, (input temperature) is higher than the t (output temperature) at the other end for the constant diameter rod but slightly less or, practically speaking, equal to t, for a rod having a diminishing mass, or pointed shape. This fact is based on the theory that the constant rod has a more overall surface area for free convection of heat or area radiation.

It will be obvious that an object, that reduces first in diameter, then enlarges in diameter and reduces again to a point (somewhat like a spoon) will measure a high overall difference between t, and because in the first reducing area the temperature will barely change but by enlarging and thereafter reducing the objects mass, a severe drop in temperature is experienced. The conventional wax carving instruments are generally spoonshaped and accordingly, due to the temperature drop, are cumbersome in performance and slow to work with. In addition, there are conventional wax drlppers which utilize a hollow stem and attachedwax bar which via the dripper stem supplies molten wax to the object to be shaped. Here again the uneven heat distribution causes continuous clog-up of the instruments.

With reference to the conventional spoon-shaped tool and the dripper stem, it will become obvious that the present invention is very unique since the tool is capable of shaping wax, subtracting wax, and adding wax, three actions combined in one tool.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for a wax shaping tool, using an overall constant temperature due to inherent diminishing mass shaped configurations and whereby force of gravity, capillary action and its constant overall heat produces a non-clogging, fast wax adding, fast wax subtracting and utmost effective wax forming instrument.

Other objects, advantages and a fuller understanding of this invention will become readily apparent from the accompanying description and drawings in which like reference numbers relate to similar components.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates an electrical temperature controllable apparatus for wax shaping tools and attached holder with wax shaping tip.

FIG. 2 shows a variable tip applying a head of wax to an object or wax die.

FIG. 3 is a view explaining the assembling of a particular type of tip providing for an easy cleaning feature.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are variants of the tip shown in FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are tips with large wax storage areas which are used for substantial wax adding purposes.

FIG 8 and FIG. 9 are combinations of the foregoing tip configurations having an adjustable capillary action or groove feature, and FIGS. 10 12 represent pattern making tips.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example, not by way of limitation, three preferred embodiments of the invention wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding components in the several views.

The present invention came into existence due to the awkward and clumsy operation of the conventional wax carving tools and wax adding tools, and the time element lost by cleaning, clog-up and insufficient effectiveness. These and other problems finally prompted a new approach which led to the discovery of this invention.

The various tips 20 which are shown in FIGS. 1 II are generally heated by the use of an electric heating apparatus 22 which comprises a holder 26 carrying internally an electrical resistor type heating element which is preferably connected to an adjustable temperature control 24; however, any other type of heating means or source 22, such as a Bunsen burner, gas flame, etc., will suffice.

As illustrated, the tip 20 is clamped into a holder 26 by a sleeve 28 made from a tightly wound spring.

A male-female fitting arrangement 30 between the tip 20 and theholder 26 acts as an integral type of connection so that proper thermo-conductivity from the holder's heating source to the tip 20 is obtained.

In order to lock the close fitting arrangement 30, the spring sleeve 28 is slid from the holder 26 onto a shoulder 32 of the tip.20; however, such a shoulder 32 is optional and not a definite requirement.

As soon as the proper temperature is reached, the input temperature t, will be equal to t, and the operator can now, by using-a heated tip as shown in FIGS. 2 through 9, which does not carry any wax, suck wax by means of capillary action into the tip 20. This capillary action is obtained through thepassageway or groove 36 that is provided in these tips 20. In addition, the tip 20 is made from a thermo-conductive means, preferably silver, copper or aluminum, and shaped toward a point 38 at its output end so that carving, indenting, cutting and sculpturing of a wax design can be accomplished.

For example, when the operator or artist sculptures a wax die for a ring, the basic flat die may be provided with leaf-shaped indentations and protruding rosettes, The indentations are made by manipulating the point 38 of the tip 20 and by sucking the excess wax by the capillary action, and the rosettes are made by moving the point 38 slightly against the die and thus relieving the tip-stored wax onto the ring due to gravity effect and the inherent viscous cohesion ability of the wax. The tips 20 illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 contain a small storage area 42 and are excellent for fine alterations while the tips shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are of great significance in substantial large quantity wax adding projects, such as the mentioned rosette designs. The operation is quite simply accomplished by tipping the tip 20 so that a drop of wax leaves the storage area 42 and flows along the groove towards the point for deposition onto the wax die.

FIG. 8 is somewhat analogous with the configura tions shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and has the added feature of adjustability by means of a set screw 44.

The tip shown in FIG. 9 has a multiplicity of advantages and features combined in one body. The container 42 is large and the wax flow can be controlled for adding as well as for subtracting by the adjusting feature 44.

fast manner without clog-up problems as experienced by similar tools. It was further reasoned that an assortment of such pattern points on diminishing material tips 20 would advance the state of the art. As illustrated, FIGS. l0, l1 and 12 demonstrate this arrangement and its operation is in particular shown by the raised wax pattern 48 in FIG. 1 1.

Having thus described the present invention, it should be realized that various modifications and changes to the present illustrated preferred embodiments may be contemplated without departing from the scope and spirit of the described invention as claimed hereinafter.

Now, therefore, I claim:

1. A tool for dispensing, shaping and picking up wax to form a decorative pattern, comprising:

a. a holder,

b. an electric heating element in said holder and associated means for electrical connection to a power source,

0. a tip made of .a thermo-conductive material and removably mounted to said holder for convenient interchange of tips on said holder, said tip comprising:

l. a body portion adapted to contain molten wax,

2. a lower point portion having a capillary passageway having a cross section sufficient to dispense molten wax from said body portion by gravity flow and sufficient also to pick up molten wax into said capillary passageway from a location below said point portion,

3. an upper mounting portion having a thermoconductive interfit with said heating element by which heat can be conducted from said heating element into said tip, and

. said tip having a sufficiently large cross section of thermo-conductive material tapering downwardly to said point portion, that sufficient heat is conducted through said tip body portion to the tip point to keep the tip point at a temperature sufficient to maintain the wax in a molten state, so that said wax can be dispensed and picked up into said capillary passageway in a molten state. 

1. A tool for dispensing, shaping and picking up wax to form a decorative pattern, comprising: a. a holder, b. an electric heating element in said holder and associated means for electrical connection to a power source, c. a tip made of a thermo-conductive material and removably mounted to said holder for convenient interchange of tips on said holder, said tip comprising:
 1. a body portion adapted to contain molten wax,
 2. a lower point portion having a capillary passageway having a cross section sufficient to dispense molten wax from said body portion by gravity flow and sufficient also to pick up molten wax into said capillary passageway from a location below said point portion,
 3. an upper mounting portion having a thermo-conductive interfit with said heating element by which heat can be conducted from said heating element into said tip, and d. said tip having a sufficiently large cross section of thermoconductive material tapering downwardly to said point portion, that sufficient heat is conducted through said tip body portion to the tip point to keep the tip point at a temperature sufficient to maintain the wax in a molten state, so that said wax can be dispensed and picked up into said capillary passageway in a molten state.
 2. a lower point portion having a capillary passageway having a cross section sufficient to dispense molten wax from said body portion by gravity flow and sufficient also to pick up molten wax into said capillary passageway from a location below said point portion,
 3. an upper mounting portion having a thermo-conductive interfit with said heating element by which heat can be conducted from said heating element into said tip, and d. said tip having a sufficiently large cross section of thermo-conductive material tapering downwardly to said point portion, that sufficient heat is conducted through said tip body portion to the tip point to keep the tip point at a temperature sufficient to maintain the wax in a molten state, so that said wax can be dispensed and picked up into said capillary passageway in a molten state. 